ADAMS TWP — After numerous attempts over the past few years, the township board of supervisors finally voted to adopt a slope ordinance during their meeting on Monday night, June 9.

“This affects construction in all zoning districts,” said Adams Township Supervisor David Goodworth. “(Developers) have to take into account the terrain of the township.”

In the ordinance, a “slope” is defined as any rise or fall greater than four feet, and a “steep slope” is defined as a slope with a width-to-height ratio of 3:1. A lower first number or higher second number is steeper.

Among the key provisions of the ordinance:

No slopes steeper than 2.5:1 are allowed in any of Adams Township’s zoning districts.

All slopes must be set back 20 feet from the property line.

In addition, no steep slopes can be created without a slope stability analysis from a professional engineer or soil scientist.

Discussions regarding a slope ordinance in Adams Township date all the way back to 2019. According to Goodworth, the slope ordinance is the result of years of revisions, redrafts and discussions between the planning commission, the board of supervisors, residents and developers.

“It has been under discussion for several years at least,” Goodworth said. “This is the compromise that was reached by the planning commission and sent to us. I think there was just some debate from township residents and developers, but I think our planning commission did a very good job at sifting through all that to come up with something that is workable for everybody.”

“This is probably the fourth or fifth slope ordinance amendment that's been before the planning commission,” said township solicitor Michael Gallagher. “It's gone through a lot of changes, through discussions with members of the township and also from the planning community.”